Pachyderm Pride

Republicans take care of their own. When times are tough, the GOP doesn't hesitate to ride to the rescue of solid Republican symbols like Vaal, Dolly, Anna and Joe -- all 10,000 pounds of Joe.

These are the pachyderms of the Baltimore Zoo, in danger of being sold as the zoo scrambles to make up the $350,000 slashed from its budget. A zoo without the living symbols of the Republican Party? The GOP wouldn't hear of it. A party loyalist, Carol Hirschburg, initiated GOP-ADOPT to raise $12,000 to provide medical care, habitat maintenance, carrots, apples and vitamins for the zoo's four pachyderms over the next year.

Ms. Hirschburg's eleemosynary efforts did not go unnoticed. A Democrat raised $50 to keep the zoo's two donkeys in clover, so to speak. That still leaves plenty of bald eagles, lions, tigers and rhinos for adoption by other concerned citizens -- or political groups. Why shouldn't the state Democratic Party match the GOP dollar for dollar in this new political battle? It would be a wonderful civic contribution, and a heck of an animal fight.